Welcome to the World's First Great Big Vegetable Challenge! Six years ago we went on a vegetable journey of a lifetime. A 7 year year old boy named Freddie and his mother faced up to the challenge of turning him from a Vegetable-Phobic into a boy who will eat and even enjoy some of life's leafier pleasures. We ate through the alphabet of vegetables...and returned to tell the tale. Join our Great Big Veg Challenge!

Friday, May 18, 2007

D is for Daikon - Miso Soup

Miso Soup with Daikon and Prawns

The Daikon has a brooding presence in our kitchen. Freddie picked it up and attempted to wallop his sister with it. It does look like a caveman's club.Nobody in the family had ever tried Daikon before so this was a Great Big Veg Challenge for all of us. We tried it raw and it tastes like a mild radish. I then made a miso soup mix and added some rice noodles. I sliced some asparagus tips and a few spring onions and in a pan quickly fried some prawns with some very thinly sliced Daikon sticks adding a splash of soya sauce. Freddie likes the taste of Miso Soup with noodles and asparagus has been one of the big success stories of the Great Big Veg Challenge. Freddie was suspicious of the Daikon. It was interesting to see all his old skills in picking out and avoiding the vegetable were back. Alex is bolder and tried it. "This is a very new thing and I don't think I will like it," said Freddie. But he did, which was good in itself. He rated the Daikon a poor four out of ten but enjoyed the Miso Soup. So we are back to bashing each other with the rest of the Daikon Club, until the next recipe.

hi gbvcIn the interest of research, I visited a Chinese friend today, armed with a printout of your Daikon picture. She recognised it immediatley & said they cook it with meat. The meat gives it a good flavour. She kept repeating this - & it made me think that it is the opposite of our cooking , where we add veg to the meat to flavour the meat during cooking. Winnie said add the meat to the Daikon in stews & casseroles. The meat will give the Daikon a good flavour! But sometimes they just eat Daikon steamed.I thought your soup looked a bit more exciting!TopVegwww.topveg.com

You might try it pickled as a side dish to an asian entree. My husband's mom chops it into "sticks" and pickles it with carrot and hot peppers. If we are eating a meat dish, we'll have our bowls of rice and the pickled daikon mixture as a side to balance everything out. Very yummy.

So happy to hear people all over the world are having fun with daikons! I thought I was the only odd one. Check out my daikon story here: http://badhomecooking.typepad.com/bad_home_cooking/2007/04/the_radish_spir.html

Hi Charlotte,I like your daikon story. Cute photo of your daughter eating the soup. I liked Freddie's remark about how he might not like it because it is too new, but then tries it.

Funny coincidence as tomorrow I have a miso soup recipe for my blog post with a video blog of my 21 year old son making miso soup. It is short ... and starts with him talking about "the Mars colonization diet"(an April Fool's joke) then he quickly shows how it's done. Maybe Freddie would like it!